This Playoff Picture Still Needs Some Processing

If we’ve learned anything from the first three months of the NFL season, it’s that few things can be predicted.

But with the playoffs fast approaching, the postseason picture is slowly coming into focus, although plenty of blurred lines exist throughout the divisional races.

In the AFC, there seem to be eight teams playing for the six spots.

Right now, it appears Pittsburgh’s 10-2 record and Oakland’s 9-3 record will be enough to earn division titles in the Central and West, respectively.

Miami (8-3) leads the East with two games in hand against New England (8-5), which is one of the hottest, if unspectacular, teams around. The teams play each other one more time.

Baltimore (8-4) seems a lock for a wild-card spot and closes with Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Tampa Bay and Minnesota.

The New York Jets (7-5) have road games at Indianapolis and Oakland, but Cincinnati and Buffalo at home, which should at least get them to nine victories.

Despite its loss to Denver, Seattle (6-6) closes with teams under .500 and could sneak in. Denver (7-6) has three games left, but the tougher schedule--at Kansas City, home to Oakland and at Indianapolis.

There seem to be more hangers-on in the NFC, where Philadelphia (8-4) and St. Louis (10-2) seem locks for the division slots in the East and West.

Green Bay (9-3) and Chicago (9-3) are tied in the Central, but the Packers swept the Bears this season to hold the tiebreaker. That leaves the Bears in line for one of the wild-card spots, with San Francisco (9-3) firmly holding on to one of the others.

The final spot is trickier, with Tampa Bay (7-5), New Orleans (7-5), Washington (6-6) and Atlanta (6-6) all in the hunt.

Tampa Bay and New Orleans play each other in two weeks, but the Buccaneers also play at Chicago and have home games against Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Aside from playing Tampa Bay on the road, New Orleans is home to St. Louis, Washington and San Francisco, no easy task.

The Redskins probably need to win three of four against Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans and Arizona to have a chance.

Atlanta doesn’t have it much easier, playing road games at Indianapolis, Miami and St. Louis and a home game against Buffalo.

Several teams in both conferences seem to have eliminated themselves with losses Sunday, including Cleveland, Arizona and the New York Giants.

Fond Memories

The death of former New York Giants’ general manager George Young on Saturday was met with sadness throughout the league, but one former player, in particular, will always have a special appreciation for the innovative executive.

Phil Simms, a little-known quarterback from Morehead State, was Young’s first draft pick in 1979. New York fans at the draft booed because they wanted Ottis Anderson, who went with the next pick to the Cardinals.

Simms was the MVP of the Giants’ first Super Bowl winner in 1987. Anderson, acquired as running back insurance in 1986, was MVP of the second championship team four years later.

“It still amazes me that he chose me in the first round of the draft. That was before the television coverage and exposure that you have today,” Simms said. “To take a guy from Morehead State with his first pick--when I stop and think about it, it’s pretty amazing.”

Standing By His Man

As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cling to their playoff hopes, Warren Sapp doesn’t think that should determine if Coach Tony Dungy’s job is safe or not.

Sapp is a Dungy fan and finds it disgusting that fans, media and NFL types are even pondering Dungy’s status.

“If this town was a real city, then it would back the only winning coach they’ve ever had. You’d think that after 13 consecutive losing seasons that people would be a little happy with going to the playoffs three times of the five years he’s been here,” Sapp said. “He’s had one losing season, his first one. One losing season! Not 13 straight. Not 12 of them with 10 losses.”

Any questions?

Someone Had to Win

Call it The Futility Bowl, The Pride Bowl, The Misery Loves Company Bowl. Two teams, whose combined records were 2-21, are playing for anything but a shot at The Super Bowl.

But it turned into one of the games of the day as the Buffalo Bills past the Carolina Panthers for a 25-24 victory.

Leading up to the game, few were happy, but that didn’t lessen their motivation.

“We’re ticked off that we’re 1-10. I’m sure they’re just as angry,” Bill quarterback Alex Van Pelt said. “It might be in front of 15,000 people.... It might not get a lot of hype. But there’s going to be some serious stuff going on between the lines when the game starts, because it means a lot to us.”

With the victory, Buffalo took sole possession of 29th place in the NFL standings. As the loser, Carolina has a chance to vie with the winless Detroit Lions for last place and a shot at the No. 2 selection in next spring’s draft.

No Guarantees

Maybe what the New York Giants needed was a jolt from the coach, a bold statement telling the world he believes they are about to get their act together and win, say, seven consecutive games to reach the Super Bowl.

That’s what Jim Fassel did last season.

He wouldn’t do it this season, even though he made his memorable playoff guarantee after 11 games a year ago.

“I did that last year for certain reasons, which here, right now, I’m not going to do,” Fassel said. “Not that I don’t feel as confident in this team, but you don’t need to go down that same track again.”

Fassel knew what he was talking about as the Giants lost to Dallas, 20-13, to fall to 5-7.

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Compiled by Jim Barrero

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The Replacements

There have been a number of excellent performances by backups in place of injured starters this season. The statistics of the backups as starters and those of the players they replaced:

QUARTERBACKS

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Players Starts Att. Comp Yards TD Int Record New England Tom Brady 11 358 236 2,518 16 11 8-3 Drew Bledsoe 2 40 66 400 2 2 0-2 Buffalo Alex Van Pelt 3 143 90 1,070 6 6 1-2 Rob Johnson 8 134 216 1,465 5 7 1-7 Minnesota Todd Bouman 1 31 21 348 4 1 1-0 Daunte Culpepper 11 366 235 2,612 14 13 4-7

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RUNNING BACKS

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Player Starts Car. Yards Avg. TD Record Seattle Shaun Alexander 9 214 982 4.6 10 5-4 Ricky Watters 3 44 214 4.9 0 1-2 Atlanta Maurice Smith 9 168 566 3.4 2 4-5 Jamal Anderson 3 55 190 3.5 1 2-1 Indianapolis Dominic Rhodes 5 109 355 3.3 4 1-4 Edgerrin James 6 151 662 4.4 3 3-3 St. Louis Trung Canidate 2 35 214 6.1 3 1-1 Marshall Faulk 10 188 928 4.9 6 9-1 Philadelphia Correll Buckhalter 4 43 211 4.9 0 2-2 Duce Staley 8 122 469 3.8 1 6-2

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